Shirin Jaafari is a reporter for The World focusing on the Middle East. She has covered conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine. Her reporting focuses on current events, politics, conflict and human rights. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Harvard’s Extension School. Before joining The World, Shirin worked for the BBC in Washington, DC. Shirin was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2009 and she received an honorable mention from the Gracie Award in 2022 for her coverage of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.When not filing for radio, she can be found hiking and camping in the mountains.You can find her on Twitter @Shirinj.
Israeli ‘double tap’ strikes in Gaza and Lebanon ‘raise serious ethical and legal concerns’
Israel has conducted thousands of strikes in Gaza and Lebanon since the start of the current war last October. Footage shot by witnesses, as well as survivors’ testimonies, raise serious ethical and legal questions about some of those attacks.
As Hezbollah buries its fighters, supporters say they are defiant
Hezbollah, the Shia militant group based in Lebanon, has said that Israel has killed about 340 of its fighters since Oct. 7. At a funeral for a Hezbollah fighter who was killed in June, mourners talk about the goals of this so-called “resistance movement.”
His stepfather took him to Syria in 2014. His ordeal had just begun.
When ISIS was in power, between 2014 and 2019, the terrorist group recruited and trained children to take part in its fight. Some were brought to Syria by their parents. Others were born there. These children became part of the global terrorist movement. And today, five years since the group was defeated, hundreds of these minors and adolescents remain detained in Syria.
‘We have no future’: A Syrian woman speaks about her life with an American ISIS member
When the terrorist group ISIS emerged in Syria in the last decade, some 30,000 foreign fighters went to Syria to fight for the group. Most were from Europe and Asia. About 300 Americans joined or attempted to join ISIS, including one woman who was married to an American ISIS fighter.
‘I have to work to help my family’: Child laborers in Raqqa face dangerous conditions
The campaign to liberate Raqqa in northeastern Syria from ISIS in 2017 left the city in ruins. Today, children make up a significant portion of the workforce that is rebuilding the city. One family knows the dangers of this work firsthand.